[0:00] This is how I prep healthy high protein
[0:02] meals with less than 1 hour of cooking
[0:04] time, minimal washing up, an endless
[0:06] variety of different dishes to keep you
[0:08] healthy and energized during the week.
[0:11] I've just been to the shops. The first
[0:13] thing I do is get all my ingredients out
[0:15] and we're going to start prepping them.
[0:17] Promise it's less than an hour. This is
[0:19] an example of all the ingredients I get
[0:21] for my protein bowl formula. proteins,
[0:24] plant-based proteins, greens, colorful
[0:27] veg, a base, and I've got some
[0:28] miscellaneous items here for the sauces
[0:31] that I'm going to be using for this
[0:32] week's meal prep. Starting with
[0:34] proteins, I'm using chicken thigh and
[0:36] chicken breast this week. I've got firm
[0:38] tofu that's in water that requires
[0:40] pressing, but you can also get extra
[0:42] firm tofu that doesn't require the extra
[0:44] step. And I've got proteins that will
[0:46] keep in the fridge later on. Smoked tofu
[0:49] will last for weeks. Eggs, obviously,
[0:50] you can boil, scramble. These are great
[0:52] to keep in the fridge for when you need
[0:54] something quick and easy. Plant-based
[0:55] proteins are phenomenal adding extra
[0:57] fiber and they're just super easy to
[0:59] use. I won't actually prep these today.
[1:02] I'll use them during the week. Look for
[1:04] these packs of precooked lentils. And I
[1:07] generally always have a frozen
[1:09] plant-based protein like edomame. These
[1:11] are my plant-based proteins. The greens
[1:13] this week are kale and spinach, but you
[1:16] can use things like rocket or arugula
[1:18] for American friends are also really
[1:20] useful. Colorful veg. I like the look of
[1:22] these peppers today. I've got some
[1:24] radish that a lot of people don't
[1:25] realize you can roast and some onions
[1:27] are always great to have in the fridge.
[1:29] These are my colorful vegetables. The
[1:31] base this week is going to be quinoa,
[1:33] but I always recommend having these
[1:35] packs of grains. Throw them in straight
[1:38] from the packet. I'm going to use sauces
[1:40] to add variety and diversity to my meals
[1:43] throughout the week. Let's put the timer
[1:45] on. 60 minutes. Step one is we're going
[1:47] to prep our proteins. When you're meal
[1:49] prepping, you always need Tupperware. I
[1:51] really don't like the plastic ones
[1:53] because they can leech microplastics
[1:55] into the food. You can't cook in them
[1:57] either. So, the good thing about these,
[2:00] they're tough enough to use in the oven,
[2:02] which means no washing up. Popping in
[2:04] some chicken thigh into one of them.
[2:07] Little bit of oil. We're going to keep
[2:09] the flavoring minimal because the
[2:11] sauces, they're going to do the heavy
[2:13] lifting of the flavor building. The
[2:15] second bit of prep is our tofu. We're
[2:17] going to crumble this. Tofu really needs
[2:20] flavor. We're going to hit this with
[2:21] loads of soy,
[2:23] bit of sugar. I'm using a bit of maple
[2:26] syrup, dash of olive oil. We're going to
[2:28] use a heavy dose of paprika.
[2:32] That sound is the oven at temperature
[2:34] now, which is perfect because we've
[2:36] literally just prepared all of our
[2:38] ingredients. Pop these in the oven.
[2:40] Yeah, buddy. Trying to get under 60
[2:42] minutes here. They're going to be about
[2:44] 35 minutes or so. In meantime, we're
[2:46] going to do our colorful veg. These
[2:49] peppers were looking great. And our
[2:50] washing up counter is zero.
[2:54] You don't need to do any fancy
[2:57] techniques of chopping. We're just going
[2:59] to throw them in. Bit of oil. Bit of
[3:02] salt. That's our peppers. We're going to
[3:05] do radish. Now, a lot of people eat
[3:07] radish raw. Actually, roasting it makes
[3:09] it a lot sweeter and tastier. Again,
[3:12] we're keeping this super simple. No
[3:14] crazy flavors. Radish done. Next, we're
[3:17] going to do some onions. I'm not going
[3:19] to do anything fancy with these guys
[3:20] either. I'm literally just going to
[3:22] wedge them. I just want to keep it super
[3:24] simple on a Sunday.
[3:26] Bit of salt. Top tip for flavor. And
[3:29] we'll use this in some of our sauces.
[3:31] Roast a garlic, man. You don't need to
[3:33] peel your garlic. When you roast it and
[3:35] it becomes soft and gooey inside, you
[3:37] can literally just ooze out the flesh.
[3:40] Nip the top off here. So, we're exposing
[3:42] just the top ends of the garlic like
[3:44] that into our onions. So, they're going
[3:47] to get like a garlicky flavor. Bit of
[3:49] olive oil. Easiest way to use edame, pop
[3:52] them in a tray. Might use a little bit
[3:54] of soy instead of salt. Everything goes
[3:57] in the oven for around the same amount
[3:59] of time, about 20 minutes. So, they're
[4:00] going to be cooking with our protein.
[4:07] At this point, our washing up counter is
[4:09] What's next? Brains. So, I'm using
[4:12] quinoa because it's high in protein,
[4:15] high in fiber. Going to put in probably
[4:17] around 250
[4:19] g of quinoa stock cube. Honestly, I do
[4:22] it by eye, but it's similar to white
[4:25] rice, a one one method. And I'm using
[4:27] the absorption method. So, at the end of
[4:30] cooking, all the water should have been
[4:32] absorbed by the pseudo grains. Tiny bit
[4:34] of oil. That would take around 18 20
[4:37] minutes. This is where these pre-cooked
[4:39] packs of grains really do come into
[4:41] their own. We're going to get on with
[4:42] our greens. I use these pre-washed kale
[4:46] from a time point of view, these are
[4:48] really, really efficient. Just going to
[4:50] massage this kale. Not only is it great
[4:53] for breaking down the cell walls, making
[4:56] the nutrients slightly more absorbable.
[4:58] You know, just taking a moment, squeeze
[5:00] your kale. It's good. So, we're going to
[5:02] pop this into Tupperware. Washing up
[5:04] counter still one with greens. All I'm
[5:07] going to do is just put some kitchen
[5:10] towel in the bag. So, this is a bag of
[5:12] already pre-washed, ready to go spinach
[5:14] leaves that we're going to use during
[5:16] the week. Now, just putting some kitchen
[5:17] towel in there will trap any moisture
[5:20] that can occur when you've kept it in
[5:22] the fridge for longer. And that's our
[5:23] greens done. Proteins are going to be
[5:25] ready. I can smell them.
[5:28] Dfu chicken thigh. Veg will take another
[5:32] 5 minutes or so. Everything is cooked
[5:35] through. You'll see the tofu here. This
[5:37] has got like a lovely crispy edge on the
[5:39] top. We're going to pop these to one
[5:40] side to let these cool whilst I finish
[5:42] the rest of our meal prep. Let's take
[5:44] these up.
[5:47] Why I've been using a tea towel this
[5:48] whole time? Two at a time now. All
[5:50] right, proteins are cooked, vegetables
[5:53] are roasted, greens are prepped, quinoa
[5:55] is going. All we need to do now is get
[5:57] saucy. A big bunch of coriander. One
[6:00] lemon. Good gug of tahini.
[6:03] Bit of seasoning. Bit of water. I'm
[6:06] going to blend this up.
[6:10] This is exactly how I want it. Zingy.
[6:11] It's got a lovely body to it and those
[6:13] fresh green herbs. Delicious. That's
[6:15] sauce number one. This is kind of where
[6:18] the washing up counter does go up cuz
[6:20] you got to wash the same blender. I will
[6:22] use the same dirtied blender with the
[6:25] next sauce that I'm making. As long as
[6:26] the flavors don't clash, but because
[6:28] we're keeping myself honest, I'm going
[6:30] to clean this. So, it's two now. Got
[6:31] some harissa and cottage cheese. Just
[6:35] going to add these two ingredients
[6:36] together.
[6:39] All right. Four creamy. This is going to
[6:42] pair so beautifully. We're not going for
[6:44] any Michelin stars here. Or are we? No,
[6:46] we're not. Sauce number two done. You
[6:49] know what? I'm going to check on my
[6:50] quinoa actually.
[6:52] That quinoa is looking beautiful. All
[6:55] that water has been absorbed. With
[6:58] quinoa, you want a tiny bit of crunch to
[7:00] it. And you can see it's almost like
[7:02] these little tails come out of the
[7:04] quinoa. Oh man. I actually like to keep
[7:07] it in the saucepan. But if you need your
[7:09] saucepan during the week, then just pop
[7:10] it in another Tupperware. For the last
[7:12] sauce, we're going to be using some of
[7:14] this beautiful roasted garlic. We're
[7:17] going to pop out one of the garlic
[7:19] cloves and we're just going to mash
[7:20] this. Should be nice and squidgy like
[7:23] you can see here. Going to add a little
[7:24] bit of salt and we're going to pour in
[7:26] probably a half pack of this yogurt. And
[7:28] then we're going to mix this with some
[7:30] tahini. Mix this together. So, this is
[7:33] going to be a delicious tahini garlic
[7:35] yogurt sauce. Sauce number three. Done.
[7:38] You see this? What does it say, Mitch? I
[7:40] can't actually tell. It says 2 minutes
[7:43] 46. There's been under an hour. I let
[7:45] everything cool in the Tupperware, put
[7:48] the lids on, and add labels to each of
[7:50] them before stacking them in the fridge,
[7:52] ready to use for the remainder of the
[7:54] week. We're going to use our tofu and
[7:56] chicken at the start of the week, and
[7:58] then use quick to prep proteins midweek
[8:00] to keep everything nice and fresh. So,
[8:02] eggs are really quick to use, and tofu
[8:04] you can use this straight from the pack
[8:05] as well. Just a quick reminder, we're
[8:07] going to be using our protein bowl
[8:08] formula. So, we're going to start with a
[8:10] core protein. In this case, it's tofu. a
[8:12] plant-based protein partner, edamame,
[8:14] green, which is kale, colorful veg,
[8:16] which is red onion, a base of quinoa,
[8:19] and the sauce is going to be green
[8:20] tahini. Grab a mixing bowl. Having all
[8:22] these ingredients to hand gives you
[8:24] ultimate flexibility during the week to
[8:26] cook up whatever you fancy whenever you
[8:28] fancy it. Using this protein formula
[8:31] means you get variety, a decent dose of
[8:33] protein, and plenty of fiber to tick off
[8:36] all your health needs without having to
[8:38] eat the same meals over and over again
[8:41] during the week. This is a quick tahini
[8:44] kale protein bowl. I'm going to use some
[8:46] extra mix nuts if you want. Optional
[8:48] obviously. It's packed full of protein
[8:50] from tahini, edamame, and obviously the
[8:53] tofu that we've prepped. And it comes
[8:55] together in minutes. Another bowl can be
[8:56] a chicken harissa protein bowl. Super
[8:59] simple. We're starting off with our
[9:00] protein. Just going to show you how you
[9:02] can make this into like a cold salad
[9:03] bowl. Chop this up. Pop this into the
[9:06] bowl. We use some of our peppers.
[9:10] Harissa cottage cheese sauce. Going to
[9:13] pop this on the base.
[9:16] Bit of quinoa on the side. We've got our
[9:18] spinach. I'm just going to roughly chop
[9:20] some of these. Some people like to have
[9:21] the leaves just as they are, but I just
[9:23] feel like no one wants to be munching on
[9:25] a leaf like this.
[9:28] This is why having plant-based proteins
[9:30] are so useful in jars is they're going
[9:33] to boost the protein content of you, but
[9:35] also the fiber content as well. Tiny gug
[9:38] of olive oil. And this is where you can
[9:40] use one of the extra lemons that you've
[9:41] got as well, just to add a little bit of
[9:43] extra flavor.
[9:47] Another high protein bowl in minutes.
[9:51] Third bowl is going to be a garlic,
[9:53] yogurt, chicken, and rice protein bowl.
[9:56] I've got a stainless steel pan. And if
[9:57] you want to know about some more
[9:59] non-toxic materials that we have in our
[10:01] kitchen, check out this video in the
[10:03] caption down below as well. I'm using
[10:05] half a pack of this trickor jasmine
[10:08] rice. Pop this into a dry pan. I'm going
[10:10] to take one of our chicken breasts. So,
[10:13] pop this in here. Pop the lid on and
[10:16] just let it cook for around 4 to 5
[10:18] minutes until it's heated through
[10:20] completely. If you do feel like it's
[10:22] getting a little bit dry, then just add
[10:24] a little gug of water on the side. While
[10:26] that's heating up, I'm going to show you
[10:28] how to build the rest of the bowl. This
[10:29] is our tahini garlic yogurt. This is
[10:31] going to be the nice base for our
[10:33] chicken and go with some red onions.
[10:35] Some pu lentils, roasted radish. Pop
[10:38] that into the side, bit of kale. So, we
[10:40] have our chicken and rice. So, our rice
[10:43] has got a little bit of like crispy
[10:44] edges of the rice, which is really nice.
[10:46] I'm going to add a little bit of rice
[10:47] here. chicken.
[10:50] Bit of lemon. Put this over the greens.
[10:53] Little bit of pepper. This takes less
[10:55] time than to heat up a ready meal.
[10:58] Sometimes I'm just feeling toast. I
[10:59] don't want a protein bowl builder all
[11:01] the time. And whether you're eating this
[11:03] for lunch or dinner, you can still use
[11:05] these pre-repped ingredients. Let me
[11:07] show you how. I've got a pan on. I'm
[11:08] going to make some scrambledish eggs. As
[11:11] we're using a stainless steel pan, we
[11:13] want to make sure that we are
[11:14] experiencing the leading frost effect,
[11:16] which is put a little bit of water in.
[11:19] It's essentially where the pan is so hot
[11:21] that the water underneath is steaming it
[11:24] and it's being recycled underneath that.
[11:26] The next thing I'm going to do is
[11:27] actually take this off the heat and just
[11:29] allow it to cool down because if I was
[11:30] to put oil in this pan, it will burn the
[11:33] oil. This gives me enough time to toast
[11:36] my toast, which I've already done. I'm
[11:37] going to crack a couple of eggs into the
[11:39] bowl. We're going to use some of the
[11:41] harissa. This is going to be a lovely
[11:43] base to our sourdough. Bit of our
[11:46] massaged kale over the top. Going to add
[11:49] plant-based partner.
[11:52] Scoop to one side. And move the eggs
[11:55] around. We got some beautiful, beautiful
[11:58] looking eggs. That is a perfectly cooked
[12:00] omelette in 30 seconds. At the end of
[12:02] the week, when you've eaten the tofu and
[12:04] chicken that you've cooked at the start
[12:06] of the week, fear not. We have smoked
[12:08] tofu for this reason. I'm going to make
[12:10] a quick rice stir fry using some of the
[12:13] leftover ingredients that we've got. Red
[12:14] onion is going to go in the base of
[12:16] this. I'm just going to quickly chop
[12:18] this cuz I don't want them in wedges. I
[12:20] kind of want them to blend in with the
[12:22] stir fry. At the end of the week,
[12:23] they're going to be a bit soggy and
[12:25] sorry for themselves. And a stir fry
[12:27] will bring them back to life. I'm also
[12:28] going to use some of this roasted
[12:30] garlic. Quickly slice up the garlic
[12:32] here. I'm going to chop the tofu into
[12:35] cubes. I'm going to reuse some of the
[12:36] red peppers. Again, they might be a bit
[12:38] soggy by the end of the week to bring
[12:40] them back to life. And we're going to be
[12:41] using some of the pre-cooked rice that
[12:44] we have from a packet. Got some extra
[12:45] condiments, soy sauce, and brown rice
[12:48] vinegar. I'm going to finish it with
[12:49] peanuts that everyone should have in
[12:51] their pantry. Let's get this party
[12:52] started with edame. I'm putting the
[12:55] edomame in first because I'm doing it
[12:57] straight from frozen cuz I haven't had
[12:59] time to let it thaw. Your edetamame is
[13:01] nice and soft. I can actually try one.
[13:04] Perfect. Let's go in with the red onions
[13:06] and the red pepper. Again, these are
[13:09] cooked in a little bit of oil, so we
[13:10] won't need to add much more oil. Some
[13:13] rice. Same rice that we used earlier in
[13:16] the week. Brown rice vinegar for extra
[13:17] seasoning. Again, straw covered staples.
[13:22] Some tofu. Our protein. This is where we
[13:25] want to throw in our spinach.
[13:28] We're going to take everything off the
[13:30] heat now cuz everything should have
[13:31] cooked through. Going to let that
[13:33] spinach wilt. Going to chop some
[13:35] peanuts.
[13:41] Nice little tip is to just touch the
[13:44] stir fry with a bit of toasted sesame
[13:47] oil. Again, a pantry staple. Far
[13:49] quicker, far healthier, and you're using
[13:51] those meal prep items that we made at
[13:54] the start of the week. Dig in. This is
[13:55] the power of the protein bowl formula.
[13:58] It makes the whole week feel so much
[14:01] easier. If you're interested in healthy,
[14:03] high protein breakfast options, we've
[14:05] done a video right here about three
[14:08] breakfasts that you need to know how to
[14:10] make. Just click right there.